Falling for Learning Podcast

Are you doing too much for your child? Literacy expert T.D. Flenaugh explains why over-helping can undermine kids' independence, and especially their writing. She shares four practical ways to build confident, independent writers using her R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method. These tips work in a homeschool or a classroom.

Episode Highlights

0:00 Why babying your child can backfire, and how independence builds confidence

3:25 Productive struggle: letting kids try on their own while you stay nearby

7:43 Introducing the REWRITE method for parent-educators

10:29 Building a writing practice with regular days, set times, and a clear goal

15:44 "It's developmentally appropriate for your child's writing to suck." Drive improvement by using more compliments and identifying one skill to improve

17:19 Real-world writing purposes, like pen pals, and writing for a real audience instead of just the teacher

25:08 Wrap-up: give kids productive struggle, time, encouragement, and an authentic audience

T.D. Flenaugh explains how to give students specific, actionable, and encouraging writing feedback. Using a student writing as an example, she shows homeschool parents and teachers how to build confidence, strengthen writing skills, and keep students engaged.

00:00 — Why actionable writing feedback matters

03:22 — Reviewing a student’s football draft

06:11 — Why grammar feedback needs direct instruction

08:04 — Treating run-on sentences as a teaching opportunity

11:48 — Helping students expand their writing

17:54 — Improving word choice with focused feedback

23:15 — Why writing remains a competitive advantage in the age of AI

Benita Gordon—education strategist, micro school developer, and founder of Global Education Concierge—joins T Dee Flenaugh to discuss how micro schools can offer a more personalized learning experience for children who may not thrive in traditional settings. Drawing on more than 26 years in education, Benita explains how micro schools support flexible pacing, hands-on and project-based learning, and a whole-child approach to behavior. She also shares her journey from public school teaching to micro school development, discusses potential funding options, and offers questions parents can ask when exploring a school for their child.

An introduction to Benita’s work in innovative education and the episode’s focus on micro schools.

Benita recalls a gifted-classroom experience that helped her see learning as hands-on exploration.

She shares how her parents helped her recognize her strengths and choose a direction that felt right.

Benita describes the model and explains how smaller learning communities can make room for personalized instruction.

The conversation explores how boundaries, reflection, and understanding a student’s needs can shape behavior support.

Benita looks back on her years teaching and supporting schools facing challenges.

Online learning during COVID and student feedback helped her imagine different ways to structure education.

Benita discusses how costs can vary and mentions vouchers, sliding scales, payment plans, scholarships, and grants.

She encourages families to ask about learning, safety, school culture, and whether the environment is a good fit.

Benita emphasizes that micro schools are one option among many—and that the best setting depends on the child.

 Falling for Learning Podcast interviews Marguerite, Amoz, and Malachi Wright on how family, education, faith, and creativity shaped their lives. As they build a mural in Harvey, Illinois, they pause to give in-depth insight on how they turned childhood art into careers and used creativity to bring hope and healing to their community.

02:40 — Learning as a family value

06:02 — Malachi’s early artistic influences

11:16 — How Amoz turned childhood drawings into a business

15:15 — Why each of them chose college while building an art career

19:31 — The mural’s purpose, design, and hopes for Harvey

26:55 — The future plans and art projects

In this episode, T.D. Flenaugh demonstrates how parents and teachers can use UFLI Foundations Lessons and the decodable passage to build early readers’ decoding, fluency, and comprehension.The episode highlights how repeated oral reading, focused practice with tricky words, as well as how drawing and labeling activities can help students grow into more confident readers.

• Using repeated reads with the UFLI Lesson 33 “What Is a Vet?” passage
• Using choral reading and immediate correction to support accurate reading
• Teaching irregular, or “tricky,” words explicitly before rereading
• Connecting reading comprehension with drawing and labeling words from the passage
• Extending practice with UFLI word work chains and roll-and-read games

• Explore the UFLI Literacy Institute Toolbox.
• Purchase your own UFLI Foundations Teacher Manual.
• Visit T.D. Flenaugh’s Falling in Love with Learning resources page to purchase The R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method & Workbook.

• Read the decodable passage aloud with students several times.
• Ensure students sound out/read words rather than only highlight them.
• Teach 2-5 tricky (irregular) words in the passage.
• Invite students to draw a scene from the text and label it with 5 words from the passage.
• Extend practice with word work chains or roll-and-read games.
• Keep practice patient, repetitive, and encouraging.

In this solo episode, T.D. Flenaugh shares a practical approach to supporting students who struggle with writing—especially those who freeze at a blank page or shut down after receiving feedback. She connects classroom experiences with national writing data and introduces a framework for building students’ writing habits without overwhelming them.Using an unfinished student argument draft as an example, Flenaugh demonstrates how to start feedback with strengths and then offer one focused next step. She also explains the difference between pre-writing, drafting, revision, and editing, and makes the case for authentic audiences, intentional practice, and more room for creativity in writing instruction.

01:05 — What this episode will help teachers do

03:10 — NAEP writing scores and the national decline

04:38 — Classroom and college signs of a deeper writing crisis

06:43 — Where to find R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method resources

08:59 — Reading a writing sample

13:03 — Root causes and recognizing students’ talents

15:22 — Effective feedback starts with strengths

25:59 — Writing process, from pre-writing to editing

30:49 — Real audiences improve motivation

32:14 — Intentional writing goals

33:47 — Treasures of writing and language of the discipline

34:46 — Encouraging creativity in writing instruction

https://fallinginlovewithlearning.com/resources/ols/products/free-ebook-falling-in-love-with-writing

• Root causes
• Recognizing talents
• Effective feedback
• Real-world purposes and audiences
• Intentional practice
• Treasures: writing qualities
• Encouraging creativity

This episode focuses on how parents and educators can help kids make healthier food choices in a world full of recalls, processed foods, and mixed messages about nutrition. T.D. Flenaugh and Lauren Moseley discuss practical ways to teach children about food safety, food labels, and the connection between food and how the body works.They also explore how cooking, gardening, and eating together can build healthier habits, stronger family connections, and a more informed approach to food.

00:43 - Lauren’s perfume-making detour and a segue into food safety

03:23 - Education as a tool for health and empowerment

06:11 - Connecting nutrition lessons to real-world reading and writing

10:20 - Using research and documentaries to study what’s in food

13:50 - Black bean sprouting as a simple at-home science lesson

16:14 - Food festivals, family recipes, and cultural connections

21:20 - Modeling healthy choices when family and school influences differ

23:32 - Avoiding shame, reward, and punishment around food

27:36 - Taste buds, food habits, and trying new things over time

30:51 - How sight, smell, and taste work together in food choices

33:14 - Final encouragement to help kids become informed eaters

Season 4, episode 11 Replay Show Notes

A Texas teacher’s viral reaction to finding 12th graders unable to complete a simple sentence frame sparks a larger conversation about literacy, expectations, and what schools can do when students are far behind. T.D. Flenaugh and Lauren Moseley unpack why the frustration is real, but also why giving up or over-scaffolding is not the answer.In this episode, they focus on how to assess students honestly at the start of the year, how to use scaffolds without keeping them forever, and how creativity, choice, and consistent practice can help older students close literacy gaps.

00:19 - Why a Texas 12th grade literacy meltdown went viral

03:23 - What scaffolding means in practice

08:24 - Why beginning-of-year assessment matters more than immediate scaffolding

14:33 - Telling students where they need to be without shaming them

16:32 - Grade-level standards and asking students to articulate them

19:28 - How a five-page narrative helped eleventh graders succeed

22:44 - Why choice helped get 100 percent work completion in some tasks

26:12 - Setting a 10-minute writing goal and increasing expectations over time

32:22 - Pulling back sentence frames as students improve

40:33 - Why the conversation will continue with reading as well as writing

41:02 - Closing advice: release scaffolds, raise expectations, and keep practice fun

This episode of Falling for Learning Podcast focuses on civic engagement and why it matters to start early with students. T.D. Flenaugh and Lauren Moseley talk about helping kids think critically, understand rules and laws, and practice participation through voting, writing letters, and solving community problems. In this conversation, they connect classroom routines to bigger democratic habits and share practical ways teachers and parents can help children use their voice without telling them what to think.

00:00 — Introducing civic engagement and helping students think critically

06:30 — Writing letters and giving children a voice in public concerns

13:13 — Student advocacy and how schools can respond to children’s needs

19:40 — Teaching respectful disagreement, nuance, and civil discourse

26:05 — Community responsibility through animal care and local action

34:39 — Closing encouragement for educators and parents

02:16 - How she learned reading through phonics 

04:54 - What whole language and three cueing try to do 

08:02 - Who gets left behind without explicit instruction 

09:28 - What dyslexia means for reading development 

11:21 - Why structured literacy builds reading skill 

13:16 - The reading wars and how publishing shaped them 

18:12 - Reading support as a village effort 

19:38 - The summer slide and why kids lose progress 

21:00 - Simple things parents can do at home 

23:22 - Why 10 minutes a day beats one long weekly session 

24:43 - Moving forward with science based reading support 

• Review the alphabet and high frequency words with your child regularly.
• Use short, daily reading sessions instead of occasional long sessions.
• Reinforce school learning at home, especially during breaks.
• Seek help from teachers, reading interventionists, tutors, or library programs if needed.
• Stay patient and consistent, even if your child is behind.